


I saw thee, child, one summer's day

by llwydion



Category: Keys to the Kingdom - Garth Nix
Genre: Gen, but it's set pre-canon, just some fluff, technically up to Book 7 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llwydion/pseuds/llwydion
Summary: A glimpse into the past, of laughter and simpler times. The boys who would later become Lord Sunday, the Mariner, and the Piper play hide-and-seek tag in a meadow.
Kudos: 1





	I saw thee, child, one summer's day

**Author's Note:**

> title of this work comes from Emily Bronte's poem, found [here](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_complete_poems_of_Emily_Bronte.djvu/153)
> 
> taking a break from my other fandoms because i recently reread this series, and the ending? is so much more poignant now

The day was warm and sunny, as all days were in the controlled environment of the Incomparable Gardens, the blue sky unmarred by clouds. Children’s laughter echoes through the otherwise peaceful grass of the meadow filled with tall grass that rustled now and then in the programmed randomized gusts of wind that blew by.

“Don’t be a spoilsport, I see you hiding there!” the youngest of the three boys, a snaggle-toothed boy shouts as he flaps his wings in pursuit of his quarry.

The second boy laughs. He’s a little taller, a little older, but his eyes are lit by the same joyful innocence as the first boy’s.

“It only counts if you can catch me, squirt!” he shouts over his shoulder, before he runs smack dab into his older brother’s crossed arms. “Ow!”

“We changed the rules last time,” said the eldest as he frowned down at his middle sibling. “Remember? When you managed to hide until Mother got mad at us for disappearing for so long?”

“Hmph, you’re no fun,” the boy replied, crossing his arms and pouting. Behind him, his younger sibling quietly snuck up on him (a difficult feat, as the grass was almost as tall as his waist), before knocking the captain’s hat off his head.

“Gotcha!” he crowed, holding the hat aloft triumphantly before cramming it on top of the weird golden mask that he’d tied over his head like a strange hat.

“Hey, you distracted me!” the middle sibling said, frowning even more deeply at his eldest brother.

The eldest smirked a little. “What can I say, you’re easy to fool.”

“No fair! Let’s play again! I demand a rematch, and this time it’ll be us against you, since you’re the eldest!”

“What will you take though?” he asked, kneeling down so he could look his youngest brother in the eye. “Unlike the two of you, I don’t like wearing hats.”

His two little siblings thought deeply for a moment.

“Oh, I know!” the littlest one said, before running off to pick some of the small white and yellow wildflowers that grew all about the tall grass.

“Here,” he said, after a little bit of silence. “Lean down again.”

The eldest kneeled down, tilting his head so that his brother could have better access to it. He felt a light pressure as a crown made of white and gold flowers settled amongst his locks.

“There! Now you have a hat too!”

“Technically, it’s more of a wreath, but thank you,” he said, straightening up again. “Now, should I start counting?”

“Bet you won’t catch me this time!” his second brother called as he ran away, and his third brother soon followed, giggling all the way.

The boy who would later become Lord Sunday, Master of the Incomparable Gardens, smiled as he covered his eyes with his hands and began counting.

“Ten… nine… eight…”

**Author's Note:**

> if anyone was wondering, i definitely headcanon Lord Sunday's name as Phineas, before he became Lord Sunday (which is also the name he uses for that disguise of his). it just seems very fitting.


End file.
